


Christmas with the Kaplans

by ApolloAttraction



Category: Young Avengers
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hanukkah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-09
Updated: 2014-12-09
Packaged: 2018-02-28 18:45:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2743196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApolloAttraction/pseuds/ApolloAttraction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tommy Spends the Holidays with Billy's Family</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas with the Kaplans

When Tommy was eight years old, his favorite holidays were his birthday and Christmas. Why? Because he got presents. That was it, full stop. During winter, a huge tree was squeezed into their living room and decorated with lights and ornaments. It made him sneeze and he generally hated it until small boxes wrapped in bright red, green, gold, and silver foil paper started to appear underneath it. He would pick up the boxes and shake them, occasionally peeling back a corner because _twenty-five days_ was too long for _anyone_ to wait, let alone someone as impatient as he was. 

As he got older, his parents tolerated less and less of his snooping around the presents. That was fine, because he cared less and less about the boxes as his mother and father started to fight more and more. After the divorce, Christmas time became more of a hassle than anything. Eventually they stopped putting up the tree altogether and presents were fewer in number and more general in importance ( CDs of his favorite bands turned into beige sweaters that he'd never wear as his mom forgot to care about his interests.)

When he first got to juvie, they hung a bit of holly (Tommy knew what real mistletoe looked like, thank you) and turned a blind eye when kids kissed underneath it. They strung some garland and there was a little Christmas tree in the corner of the cafeteria. When they took him to superjuvie, they didn't really care about holidays there. The red and green of Christmas were reduced to things Tommy would rather not remember. Still, it was the only holiday he really knew.

So, it was entirely too embarrassing when he stepped into Billy's house in a bright red sweater only to find everyone else wearing light blues and whites. He turns back to face Billy as his twin closes the door, “I thought you said there wasn't a dress code.”

Billy gave him a sheepish smile. “Well, there isn't. You don't have to wear formal clothes, but-” he shrugged. “Yeah, I'm sorry. I just don't even think about it anymore,” he apologized. “I've got a few shirts that will fit you if you want to change.”

“I mean, all the girls are already undressing me with their eyes,” he grinned, “but if youdon't want _all_ eyes on me, we should probably do that.” Billy rolled his eyes and lead Tommy upstairs. Which, honestly, was fantastic because Tommy, as loud and exuberant as he could be, didn't like the sideways glances he kept getting from the few people milling around in the living room. “Did you tell me the wrong time so I'd get here on time again?” Tommy asks as he holds up one of the shirts Billy offers him. It's a white button-down with a blue Star of David embroidered on the pocket. To Tommy, it screams nerd and is definitely not his style, but he puts it on anyway.

“No; you're late as usual,” Billy says with a small scoff. He raises a curious eyebrow, “Why?”

“It just doesn't look like hardly anyone's here.” Tommy replied and ran his hands quickly over the front of the stop. If anyone could slow down time and watch it, it would tell them exactly how nervous he was.

Billy chuckled, “Hanukkah isn't a big deal, so it's just a few friends and some nearby family.”

“Oh,” Tommy rubbed the back of his head as they made their way back downstairs. Fewer people stared at him now that he matched the rest of the party. He zoomed around the house, while Billy stayed near the stairs. The doorbell rang just as Tommy found a plate of snacks sitting on the island bar in the kitchen. He looked up to see Billy letting Teddy into the house and frowned when he noticed the blonde in a blue sweater. “How come you got the color memo and I didn't?” He asked as he sauntered over to them with a few of the snacks on a small paper plate.

Teddy gave the speedster a sympathetic smile, “Google is your friend.”

Tommy frowned. He hadn't thought of googling Hanukkah. In hindsight, he probably should have. He wondered if he could discretely get on his phone and look it up. He was pretty sure he still had the Kaplan's wifi password, even though he hadn't lived with them in a while. All his thoughts were forgotten as he bit into the snack. “Oh my God,” He said, a grin spreading over his face as his eyes widened. A few people looked his way at the exclamation, but he couldn't care less as he placed a hand on Billy's shoulder and demanded, “What are these small slices of heaven?”

Billy laughed, “They're called Latkes. My mom made a bunch of different ones though. I think those ones are apple.”

Tommy nodded and took a huge bite of one of the other Latkes. He then made it his mission to try every single flavor there was. When he popped back into the kitchen and placed one of each on his plate, he froze as he saw Dr. Kaplan the Mrs. He blushed a bit and tried to hide the plate; he didn't want to look greedy on a holiday about giving. Was Hanukkah about giving? Again, he thought of googling the Holiday.

Dr. Kaplan smiled at him, “You can eat as much as you like, Tommy; I made plenty.” He was about to comment that there was no way she could have made plenty because he could quite  _literally_ eat a horse and still be hungry (you know, if horses were a kind of meat he wouldn't feel ridiculously guilty about eating.), but then she moved to the fridge and opened the door. “Billy might have mentioned you have a big appetite.” It was full of plates, each with a different kind of food, many of them Latkes. 

His eyes went wide and he honestly had no idea what to say. The foods look hand made and he couldn't even fathom how much work had gone into each of them. He felt slightly bad about it, but she was all warm, friendly smiles as she closed the door and looked back to him. “You can take some home, too, if there are any left over when you leave.” She walked over to him like she had something else to say, but then Dr. Kaplan the Mr. called to her from the living room. “Oh, I better see what he wants,” she chuckled as she placed a hand on Tommy's shoulder. “Here,” she laid three round discs beside him. “Have fun; I'm glad you came tonight.”

Tommy's face colored a little bit, embarrassed at the attention. He ducked his head so that no one would see how compromised his “emotionless” demeanor was. He pretended to inspect the candies in order to justify the way he was sitting. The gold foil was gilded with cute little dreidels around the edges and a large 1 in the middle. The best discovery, however, was that the foil could be peeled back and there were _slices of milk chocolate_ inside of them. Tommy was definitely a chocolate enthusiast and immediately popped one in his mouth.

He raised his head as he heard a familiar chuckle. He put on an expectant look, refusing to let Billy know that he'd been able to sneak up on the speedster. “What?” He asked expectantly and unwrapped another one of the chocolates.

Billy shrugged as his twin ate the second of the three coins. “Nothing. Just, if you keep eating those, you won't have anything to bet with.”

“Bet?” Tommy raised an eyebrow.

Billy nodded toward a group of small children huddled in a circle and spinning a dreidel. As it landed, the spinner exclaimed. Each of the other children sighed as the spinner reached to a small kettle at the very center of the group and took out half the candies that filled it. “The entry fee is one coin.”

Tommy shook his head, “I'm not playing with a bunch of little kids, Billy; I'm _18_.”

Billy shrugged, “I'm going to play once Zeek finishes bankrupting everyone.”

Tommy snorts, “That is literally taking candy from a baby, Billy.”

“He's _eleven,_ ” Billy retorted and crossed his arms over his chest. “Plus, he took all the _Lucky Charms_ , even the ones I put in ziploc bags and hid from him.”

Tommy couldn't help but laugh. “ _Really_ , Billy? I didn't know you were so petty.”

“ _Shut up_ ,” the brunet said and gave his twin's shoulder a shove. “We only get one box a month; dad makes us eat cheerios the rest of the time.”

Tommy made a face, “Yea, don't remind me; I used to live here and I remember how much that sucked.” He grumbled something that sounded like _ridiculous cardiologist; how did you even wind up with two doctor parents,_ but Billy didn't get time to make sure before Teddy interrupted.

The blonde had Billy's youngest brother sitting on top of his shoulders and was wearing a grin. “So, I have a great idea. _I've_ never played dreidel, _Tommy's_ never played dreidel and _Zach_ has never played dreidel.” He hushed his voice and added, “And _no one_ wants to play against Zeek, so we should all play together and Billy can teach us.”

Billy raised an eyebrow and looked up at his brother. “You've played before.”

The brother looked sheepish and hugged Teddy's head, like he was going to try and hide in the blonde's hair. “But I don't want to play with Zeek; he's mean,” the boy mumbled with a definite pout.

“I don't know...” Billy said and trailed off conspiratorially, “Tommy doesn't want to play with _little kids_.”

Zach looked over at Tommy with wide, pleading eyes. Tommy refused to give in. “I'll do it for the chocolate.” So much for refusal. Billy's smirk read: _Just as planned_.

Billy grabbed a dreidel from one of the kitchen drawers and cleared them a large enough spot on the island counter. He turned the dreidel and pointed to each symbol, “These mean: nun, gimmel, hey, and shin.” The younger brother nodded, but Tommy and Teddy just exchanged a glance. Billy pointed at each again, “If it lands on nun, you take _none_. If it lands on gimmel, you take it _all._ If it's _hey_ take half, and if it's shin, you put a coin in.” Once Billy made sure every one understood, he said: “We're going to start with one coin from everybody in the middle, ok?”

Tommy piped up immediately, “What if, say, you only have _one_ coin?”

“Then you better not lose,” Billy said with a snicker, and so the game started. Zach spun the dreidel as fast as he could, and it nearly fell off the countertop before it suddenly stopped and landed on hey. Tommy caught a feint blue glow in the corner of Billy's eyes as the young boy cheered and took half the coins. The speedster made a note to have a brotherly outting in Vegas some time.

Tommy spun the top carefully and it warbled slightly before falling down on shin. He opened his mouth to protest, but stopped once Zach squeaked, “Oh no.” He looked to Tommy with a very distressed expression, “You _can't_ give nothing; won't that mean you're out?” He passed Tommy one of his gold coins. “Here.” Tommy had no idea what to do and looked to Billy for help. The brunet nodded to the coin.

“I'll pay you back once I win,” Tommy said and pushed the coin into the pot. Teddy got gimmel, though, and the pot was gone. Teddy passed Tommy a coin so they could all play again. Tommy spun the dreidel carefully and landed on nun. He did not win a coin and Billy had to buy his way into the next round. He let out a huff and, when it was his turn, spun a little harshly. Only, a little was a _lot_ in speedster terms and it flew off the counter and towards the window. “Shit,” he cursed and moved to try and catch it. Billy stopped it first, though.

“Maybe we should take a break,” Teddy said and leaned on the counter as Zach gazed in wonder at the floating dreidel.

Dr. Kaplan the Mr. popped into the kitchen just as the dreidel dropped down onto the countertop. “Are you boys alright?” Tommy looked at him and saw a few guests staring through the archway at them.

Billy nodded, “Yea, dad, we're fine.”

Dr. Kaplan nodded, “Well, Billy, it's time to light the Menorah.” Billy nodded and moved to the living room, where all the other guests had gathered around the coffee table. The Menorah was on the window sill with eight unlit candles. Tommy and Teddy leaned against the back wall of the living room as billy stood behind the coffee table and face everyone. He picked up a candle from the coffee table and Dr. Kaplan came over with a match to light it. Billy thanked everyone for coming and asked that they join him in saying the blessings.

Tommy's eyes widened and he looked to Teddy. “Blessing? What blessing? I don'tknowwhattheblessingis.”

Teddy smiled. “Me either,” he reassured the speedster, “I'm just going to listen.”

“Okay,” Tommy nodded and looked ahead where Billy took a deep breath. What came out were not words. Billy was _singing_. The brunet's voice was soft and melodious; it was very clear and Tommy could make out where the words started and ended, though he had no idea what his twin was saying. Billy paused, everyone said Amen. Tommy opened his mouth, but Billy started again. At the end of the second blessing, Tommy joined in saying Amen, since he knew (or rather, hoped) it was coming. Billy turned with the candle he was holding and lit each candle in the Menorah. When he he turned back, he smiled, looking relieved.

Teddy bumped his shoulder and explained in a whisper, “The first time he ever lit the candles, he caught the curtain on fire and cried for 45 minutes.”

Tommy snickered, “Tell me they have that on tape.”

“ _They do_ ,” Teddy answered with a wicked grin. Billy caught sight of them and paled a little, somehow knowing what they were talking about. Dr. Kaplan put her had on Billy's shoulder and ushered him away. The other Dr. Kaplan moved to the front of the room and recited the story of the oil lamp. Tommy listened carefully.

Once the story was over, Dr. and Dr. Kaplan thanked everyone and gave their well-wishes to the friends and family as the majority of the guests left.

“So,” Billy said as he turned to Tommy. “Was that as horrible as you thought it'd be.”

“I guess it wasn't that bad,” Tommy reluctantly admitted, though it was still with a soft smile.

“Are you coming back next year?” Dr. Kaplan the Mrs. asked, surprising them all; she sounded hopeful.

Tommy shrugged, “If you make those little snack things again, sure.”

They all laughed a little.

“I'd better get going,” Tommy said after a moment of comfortable silence.

“It was great having you,” Dr. Kaplan said with a smile.

Billy showed him to the door, “Be safe,” he said as he noticed the snow and gave Tommy a tight hug.

“Jeeze,” Tommy said and gave an awkward pat to Billy's shoulder. “No one told me I'd have to suffer through hugging at the end of this; I might not come back afterall.” Billy gave his shoulder a light punch in reply to that remark.

The next day happened to be Christmas and, despite _not caring_ about the holiday, and knowing that Billy had his own celebrations, Tommy dropped off a gift on his twin's doorstep as a thank you for inviting him and everything (though he didn't sign his name, of course.)

When he got home, he found packages left outside of his apartment door. Most of them were labeled with clearly printed to-and-from stickers, even Billy's (which contained both his red Christmas sweater and a ridiculously ugly Hanukkah sweater. It made him so glad that he'd gotten a Billy a joke gift*) and Wanda's (a pair of shoes and a note about how she _knew_ he needed them and that she wished she could have have visited him herself.) There was one package, though, that looked like it had been strangled by gift ribbon. It sat next to Wanda's, nearly eclipsed by the size of her gift. Once Tommy got past the eight different ribbons that had been turned into knots somewhere on their ways to becoming bows, he found that the crumpled wrapping paper surrounding the gift had way too much tape on it. He had to use scissors to get it open.

He finally got it open and found a Walkman. It had obviously been used; the front had scratches all over the screen from being dropped a hundred times and the symbols were worn off the buttons. He popped in a pair of headphones and turned it on shuffle. He snickered, “This isn't even two-thousand-and-late, it's as dead as the seventies.” He flipped through every single song and cuddled his presents on his bed.

His disdain for the holidays was completely forgotten; as strange as it was, he felt loved.

**Author's Note:**

> That title is horrible but I literally couldn't think of anything else. And Tommy starts out christmass-y.  
> I just wanted Tommy doing holiday stuff and being happy.  
> He deserves it.
> 
> I saw a headcanon on Tumblr that Pietro gave Tommy his walkman and I thought it was cute. I don't remember whose headcanon it was. 
> 
> I named the brothers. I need more of the brothers in Billy's life.
> 
> *Tommy gave Billy a year subscription to Jsingles.com; when Billy texts him about it, he replies, "Hey, if the long-term dating scene isn't your thing, try HEbrew" and links him this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8976yho_OnM


End file.
